Do we have a good case for Small Claims Court? (Car repair related)

In My Humble Opinion
1

My wife has a 2000 VW Jetta, and has always been unhappy with the drink holder (which pops out near of the dashboard over the radio, meaning any cold or drippy drink winds up on the radio and the shifter). One day, we went to have a repair done to the radio at Circuit City. While there, she talked to an installer who has a similar car. He told her that one can pick up a center console piece, where the emergency brake is, from a junked 2002-2004 Jetta, and that piece has additional cupholders that don’t get in the way of anything. (Her Jetta also has a cupholder in the back of the console for rear seat passengers). She wanted to do this swap, and decided to talk to our local repair shop tp see if they thought they could do it.

So, while the car was in for some other work, she talked to them about possibly doing the swap. I was there when she asked about this, and it seemed to me she was clear about what she wanted done. So we dropped off the car the next week. We picked it up a day after the drop off, paid, and went to get the car.

Instead of replacing the center console, they had replaced the existing dashboard console!

They didn’t think anything of it, because it was slightly broken (it is spring-loaded and should pop right into position, but the original one was slightly broken and needed to be pulled out by hand).

They apologized, but offered no refund or anything. My wife explained what she wanted again, and they said they would do it this time. So we left the car again, and they kept it for 2 days. Finally they finished it, and we went to get it. I paid again (yeah, I know - should’ve inspected it first), they magnanimously charged only for parts, not labor, and we went to get the car.

This time, they replaced the rear, passenger cupholder! That’s still not what she wanted. I went in and tried to explain what she wanted - the guy, (who is aloof anyway) just kind of stood there and nodded. I think he finally got it, but I am not sure.

So, what is our best option now? I don’t think they are amenable to refunding us anything; in their eyes, they did repairs. In our eyes, we had unneccesary and unrequested work done, and are now our just over $300.

Here’s the type of piece we were hoping to have installed:

http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edpd/pagebuild_v2.cgi/?html=learnmore.html&productID=251682

This is the first cupholder they installed:

http://www.vwupdate.com/02%20J%20Cup%20Holder.JPG

What do you think? Is this a good time to head to Small Claims Court?

2

Missed the edit window. Apparently the replacement piece is from mid-2004 or later.

3

I would say a lot of it will depend on what the work order says that you were given from the shop. I find it hard to believe, however, that at no point did one of you walk over to the car and point to the actual part to be replaced and say “I want THIS piece replaced with THAT piece”. It sounds like you had some vague conversation about it in an office away from the car itself and that nothing was in writing. Assuming that is the case, I really can’t believe that happened a SECOND time :smack:

4

I agree. What did the work order say? Did it just say “cup holder”? If so I can see the mix up the first time since the one you had was broken and were it was located was standard for that car.

Was there a second work order that specifically indicated the middle console and the year of car the console was suppose to come from?

5

My thoughts are- why are you spending money to relocate a cup holder? If the existing one is not useable, don’t use it!
As for a claim, you might not have a case, as said above, if the work order describes the work to be done in so vague a way that the expected repairs are not done to your satisfaction.

6

If this is all you have, you really don’t have a (legal) leg to stand on. It’s just she said - he said.

7

That’s not the point, now, is it? It doesn’t matter a damn bit *why *they want the work done, only that they were specific in describing the work they want done.

8

True, but a circuit court judge will still need to make a decision based on whatever evidence is available (work order) and the testimony given. The judge just needs to be convinced that the OP’s wife was clear in what she wanted. If the repair shop doesn’t understand what the customer wants, then they shouldn’t assume and fix the wrong thing.

OP, you say you think they won’t give you a refund. In this case I don’t think I’d ask for one. I’d ask them to do the work you originally wanted, but that you expect the labor to be free. That’s a good trade for the inconvenience you’d dealt with so far. If possible, buy the part you want and bring it with you, then they can’t overcharge you for it.

I don’t think you’ll get a full refund because it is my understanding that the law won’t let you profit, and whether you wanted it or not, you got a new cupholder (though $300 seems excessive). Maybe before you take the car back, call and ask to talk to the manager and explain the situation and try to work it out.

IANAL but I watch The People’s Court :smiley:

9

The legal standard is a “preponderance of the evidence” or, said another way, factually, the OP’s wife just has to prove it is “more likely than not” that it happened the way she said it did. If the judge does believe the wife’s version, the judge will apply the relevant law to those facts, and the wife could very well recover.

10

Many thanks to It’s Not Rocket Surgery!. I have the 2001 model year Jetta and have always hated that darned cup holder (the center console armrest breaks if you lean on it too).

Thanks to your experiances, I know now to order the part online in the color I want, bring it to my mechanic of choice, and say,

"Hi. I bought this part to upgrade my car, but I realized afterward that the job is too much for me to do on my own. Basically, I want to hire you to install this part wiggle sealed plastic bag inside of this car pat hood behind the emergency break. It’s supposed to totally replace this old center console between the seats and over the E-break pat console. What I’ve read indicates that this is a pretty challenging conversion and that it may involve moving or bending the E-brake almost 10 degrees for everything to still work as intended.

First, is this kind of custom work something that you’d feel comfortable doing? If so, I’d like you to work up an estimate for me. Thanks!"

11

Let’s see…
You want to sue for $300.
In most places it costs about $75 to file a clase in small claims court. And you miss a day or more of work. And you have to deal with the bureaucracy and hassle of court.
And since you’ve already received one cup holder, it’s likely that the judge will not grant you the whole $300 that you’ve paid.

Umm…is this really worth it?

12

Why don’t you offer to compromise to the repair place. Tell them you plan to reverse the charges, or sue if they don’t play ball. Be firm and direct. It’s probably not worth going to court though.

13

It costs $20.00 to file in Kentucky, where it seems the OP is. Sure, telling them you plan to file in small claims is a good first step to see if they want to just make it right. If not, I say go for it…they should make it right. It seems like car repair places are often culprits of stuff like this – and too many people just take it, IMHO, so they keep doing it.

14

I have no idea what the consumer protection laws are like in KY. but here in California an individual could take such a complaint to the Bureau of Automotive Repair and it would get investigated for free.
As far as court goes, you would be amazed at some of the mental gymnastics that judges will go though to in order to find a car maker / repair facility at fault.
Two other observations:
1.Why do you continue to go to a shop that apparently has some severe communication issues? :confused: If they don’t understand what you want fixed, and you don’t understand what they are going to do, well this sounds like a recipe for disaster sooner or later.
2. You car has BRAKES Count Blucher not breaks. Unless of course they are broken, in which case they are broken brakes. They are never breaks.
(Yeah, I know pot stop calling kettle black :slight_smile: )

15

I thought that if you win in small claims court, the other party has your court costs included in the judgment. That might be a small plus in the " Go for it" column.